I do not have the WiFi option in my Watch app on my phone. I had WiFi calling working yesterday, but it no longer works. I just put my phone in Airplane mode & it watch went to cellular instead of WiFi.
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Can't do Wifi calling. AT&T. Apple Watch 3 LTE
- Thread starter nippyjun
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Do you have AT&T? And just to clarify if you turn cellular off on your watch and put your phone in airplane mode leaving only Wi-Fi on the watch available you cannot make calls today? Do the calls that you try to make fail immediately?
Thank you
Yes, I am with AT&T. I did another test. I changed my phone to the 2.4Ghz network (which the watch already knew about) & then put it in airplane mode. The watch then connected to WiFi & I was able to make & receive a call. However, there is still no WiFi option in Phone of the Watch app. And apparently, the watch wants to fail to whatever WiFi the phone was on at the time of turning off the phone & since it was a 5Ghz network, it did not work.
Let's not use Airplane mode on the iPhone, just turn off Bluetooth. With your iPhone and Watch both on Wi-Fi, do you see the option in the Watch app under the Phone tab?
Dave
Dave
I have T-Mobile, but I also do not have my new S3 LTE watch listed on the WiFi calling list of devices on my iPhone (my MacBook Pro and my iPad are, however).
My old S0 Watch was, however, listed — at least it was under iOS 10.
I have confirmed that, regardless of it not being listed, the watch is able to make a call over WiFi when the iPhone is in Airplane mode. I’m certain the call went over WiFi and not LTE (blue WiFi signal meter was shown, not the LTE bars/dots, and no LTE signal indicator on the Explorer watchface).
So it seems like an AT&T issue and not an iOS/watchOS issue if WiFi calling isn’t working.
My old S0 Watch was, however, listed — at least it was under iOS 10.
I have confirmed that, regardless of it not being listed, the watch is able to make a call over WiFi when the iPhone is in Airplane mode. I’m certain the call went over WiFi and not LTE (blue WiFi signal meter was shown, not the LTE bars/dots, and no LTE signal indicator on the Explorer watchface).
So it seems like an AT&T issue and not an iOS/watchOS issue if WiFi calling isn’t working.
So on T-Mobile, do you have a setting on your Watch app to turn Wi-Fi Calling On/OFF?
That's the current issue under discussion. In addition to issues with home Wi-FI on 5 GHz / 2.4 GHZ. Yes we know the Watch can only connect via 2.4 GHz.
Dave
That's the current issue under discussion. In addition to issues with home Wi-FI on 5 GHz / 2.4 GHZ. Yes we know the Watch can only connect via 2.4 GHz.
Dave
Make sure you switch off cellular on the Watch and have your phone in airplane mode to test wifi calling.
Thanks.
Hi Dave. I just checked again and I can send and receive LTE calls on the Watch. If I turn off cellular on the watch and try to make a call with just the Wi-Fi on it fails. If I call the Watch with only wifi on, from another phone it goes straight to my voicemail.
OK, that means NumberSync is good and not part of the problem. Clearly a Wi-Fi Calling configuration issue...
What router / access point are you using for Wi-Fi at home and if you have 5 GHz and 2.5 GHz sharing a SSID (Network Name)?
Dave
What router / access point are you using for Wi-Fi at home and if you have 5 GHz and 2.5 GHz sharing a SSID (Network Name)?
Dave
I have a linksys router. The name had been shared between the 2 bands but I be named them this way:
Name 2.4 and Name 5.
I can do FaceTime calls and other wifi activities so the Watch does use the wifi.
Also I looked at my routers network math and my watch connects on the 2.4 network
Name 2.4 and Name 5.
I can do FaceTime calls and other wifi activities so the Watch does use the wifi.
Also I looked at my routers network math and my watch connects on the 2.4 network
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Thanks for the updates. You mentioned earlier that you wanted to use a existing device name on your new LTE watch. Did you change the name of the old device, to make each watch unique?
Dave
Dave
When I got my new LTE watch i paired it with the phone and restored it from my current version 2 watch which was still paired with the phone. After that I rename the LTE phone and then a few days later unpaired the old version 2 watch
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Nope, still have just the Alerts & Ringtone sections.
And on the phone, in Settings-Phone-Calls on Other Devices, the watch is not listed there either.
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I have seen no examples of an LTE watch making a WiFi call without the phone supporting it. By that I mean, I have seen the following scenario working.
1) phone with WiFi and Bluetooth off but connected to cell network
2) watch with cellular disabled but connected to WiFi
When a call is made from the watch you can see actually the phone is making the call if you check the phone display and then relaying via data to the watch! So if you left the phone at home connected to WiFi or cell only and were out with your watch with only WiFi it will make a call successfully.
1) phone with WiFi and Bluetooth off but connected to cell network
2) watch with cellular disabled but connected to WiFi
When a call is made from the watch you can see actually the phone is making the call if you check the phone display and then relaying via data to the watch! So if you left the phone at home connected to WiFi or cell only and were out with your watch with only WiFi it will make a call successfully.
No but thanks for your comments. You may be confusing our discussion with the way that other Apple devices are able to use the Cellular connection from the Host iPhone when they are on the same Wi-Fi connection as the iPhone.
We are talking specifically about the Series 3 LTE Watch. It is designed by Apple for the Watch to be able to make it's own independent Calls, either Wi-Fi or LTE. It does not need the iPhone to be connected via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Cellular network or even powered "On".
Dave
We are talking specifically about the Series 3 LTE Watch. It is designed by Apple for the Watch to be able to make it's own independent Calls, either Wi-Fi or LTE. It does not need the iPhone to be connected via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Cellular network or even powered "On".
Dave
Two clarifications
In my test the host phone is not on WiFi. It is only connected via cellular. So the phone can be very very far from the watch and still work in the way I described.
If you look at other threads there seems to be nobody who has clearly made a wifi call from the lte watch with any provider. Also on other threads some thought it was working but later found the watch was sneakily using lte for the call. This can be seen as to my knowledge nobody has made a watch call with the phone off and the watch cellular disabled leaving only WiFi
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No need for any clarifications. It is simple, the iPhone does not need to be on: near or far to use Wi-Fi calling on the LTE Watch. Only pre-reqs is that you iPhone be setup for Wi-Fi Calling and have Wi-Fi Calling on Other Devices set "On'.
Did you read the posts on this same page, you would have seen @xraydoc post, here is the relevant portion:
Here is the relevant quote from Apple: To receive SMS or MMS on your Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular), your paired iPhone must be powered on and connected to Wi-Fi or cellular, but it doesn't need to be nearby.
Dave
Did you read the posts on this same page, you would have seen @xraydoc post, here is the relevant portion:
Yes, there have been other "reports" in other threads, and Apple and the Carriers have confirmed that the iPhone only has to on and connected to the Carriers network for a specific SMS/MMS Texts use case.
Here is the relevant quote from Apple: To receive SMS or MMS on your Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular), your paired iPhone must be powered on and connected to Wi-Fi or cellular, but it doesn't need to be nearby.
Dave
The reason that I keep asking about a setting to manage Wi-Fi Calling for the Watch. Apple indicates the following information concerning set up and using Wi-Fi Calling on the Watch.
Enable Wi-Fi calling on iPhone. On iPhone, go to Settings > Phone and turn on both Wi-Fi Calling and Calls on Other Devices.
Enable Wi-Fi calling on Apple Watch. Open the Apple Watch app on iPhone, tap My Watch, tap Phone, then turn on Wi-Fi Calls. If you don’t see the setting, make sure you enabled Wi-Fi calling on iPhone.
The reason that I keep asking about a setting to manage Wi-Fi Calling for the Watch. Apple indicates the following information concerning set up and using Wi-Fi Calling on the Watch.
Enable Wi-Fi calling on iPhone. On iPhone, go to Settings > Phone and turn on both Wi-Fi Calling and Calls on Other Devices.
Enable Wi-Fi calling on Apple Watch. Open the Apple Watch app on iPhone, tap My Watch, tap Phone, then turn on Wi-Fi Calls. If you don’t see the setting, make sure you enabled Wi-Fi calling on iPhone.
This is interesting because if you look at the fine print under the Wi-Fi toggle it talks about FaceTime Apple ID matching your iCloud Apple ID in the FaceTime section.
So maybe Wi-Fi calling is tied in with FaceTime. Now I went to my FaceTime settings in my Apple ID was the same as my iCloud ID but maybe there some other toggle or setting or refresh in that section that would then make this Wi-Fi toggle in the phone section of the Watch app appear.
Can we do a little experiment and for anyone here who does have the Wi-Fi toggle in the phone section of the watch app go into their FaceTime settings and just turn off FaceTime and then go back and see if the Wi-Fi toggle is still available in the phone section of the watch app.
If that doesn't make a difference then maybe signing out of their Apple ID in the FaceTime settings and see if that makes a difference.
I bet this does have something to do with FaceTime but I'm not sure what to toggle to make a difference
That's interesting, I don't see that option on my apple watch app on my iPhone. Have everything set to what you indicated too.The reason that I keep asking about a setting to manage Wi-Fi Calling for the Watch. Apple indicates the following information concerning set up and using Wi-Fi Calling on the Watch.
Enable Wi-Fi calling on iPhone. On iPhone, go to Settings > Phone and turn on both Wi-Fi Calling and Calls on Other Devices.
Enable Wi-Fi calling on Apple Watch. Open the Apple Watch app on iPhone, tap My Watch, tap Phone, then turn on Wi-Fi Calls. If you don’t see the setting, make sure you enabled Wi-Fi calling on iPhone.
I just realized this thread is for AT&T, I'm with T-mobile. Facetime settings shows up the Apple ID that I'm actively using too.
It doesn't matter which carrier. Just trying to figure out why some of us don't have the wifi calling option.
I wonder if it's somewhat related to the "can't connect to wifi" bug that I experienced with my AW. I had to forget the wifi network on my phone, then reboot and joined again, and somehow my AW recognized the wifi and it connects now to it when the phone is away from the AW. I did re enable my facetime settings but that didn't fix it.